"and the leader there told me of an incident which happened at the baseball game last Saturday when their team played yours." He turned to Mr. Atkins. "Probably what I am going to relate is news to you, as you weren't present. But this gentleman, who was umpiring, told me that on a close play at home plate, he called one of his own players out and your catcher, Bob Reynolds, immediately stepped up and said that he didn't touch the runner. Consequently, the decision was changed and Delham finally won the game by a score of 7 to 6."

He paused and looked around at Bob, whose face showed his embarassment. "That's the spirit the Y. M. C. A. aims to put into a boy. Winning a game is a fine thing, but losing one under those circumstances is a million times finer. I'm proud to know such a boy as Bob. But I also believe there isn't a boy here but what will agree with me that Bob's act is the kind of thing we stand for and believe in." He sat down amid loud applause, the beaming young faces around him aglow with pleasure.

Paul and Bob walked home by themselves, the former secretly a trifle awed by the honors which had come to his cousin. "Do you always have such good meetings as you had to-night?"

on his western trip. He had a lot of pictures, too."

"How often do you have your meetings?" Paul inquired.

"Regular meetings once a week and generally one or two special meetings every month. Then, of course, Saturdays we generally plan a hike or some games. Mr. Atkins has the afternoon to be with us. And we have a baseball league and are going to have a hockey team next winter and-"

"Enough!" shouted Paul. "You make me dizzy. Why there's no end to the things you can put over, without a regular building, too. You bet I've learned some things to-night."

"There's one thing sure," said Bob, as they reached their home and turned into the path, "we fellows wouldn't know how to get along without our Y. M. C. A. now. And the funny thing about it is," he continued, "that we have always had everything here that there is now. It just took the county secretary to get us moving."

Bob chuckled. "Better, from my standpoint," he said. "We really do have some peachy times. And no gym, either," he added, teasingly.

"What are some of the other things you do?" asked Paul.

"Oh, debates, spelling matches, game tournaments, 'eats,' free hand drills, boxing, social evenings, any number of things. Once a month we have a talk by some business man. Last week Mr. Spaulding, the Methodist minister, gave us a dandy talk

From the Watchward, Dayton, Ohio

U

NDER average conditions the farm is no place for the weak or for those unable to direct work. The man who intends to spend his working life in the country should start early, for success is not gained in a moment but by many years of persistent effort. It is true that some farmers have made small fortunes in a short time, but this is usually through a phenomenal rise in land values. Few men have become rich from the real profits of the land. Those who have done so usually needed a lifetime in which to work. Through skill in management and by hard labor a comfortable living and moderate profits may be expected. Those persons who are turning to the farm with the idea. of reaping large incomes are doomed to severe disappointment.

The average age of the farm owners and the number of years they have been farming are given in the following analysis:

ture, started in farming as homesteaders, or else bought their places when land was cheap as compared to present prices. On the average these men rented land for two and one-half years before becoming owners. This is a much shorter period than is required to-day. Land values in these regions are so high that many years of work as a tenant are necessary before sufficient funds can be acquired with which to buy a farm. The large amount of capital required and the long time necessary in which to earn this may have the effect of making more tenant farmers.

In Table XXXI are given the ages of the tenants and the time they began farming for themselves. No data showing how long these men worked as hired men before becoming tenants are available.

Results shown in other tables in this bulletin prove conclusively that the more capital a tenant has the greater

his income; that is, the larger business

he operates the larger is his pay. It might be expected, then, that the oldest tenants would be making the largest incomes. The results as given in Table XXXI show just the reverse; the oldest tenants make the lowest incomes. They have the least capital and farm the smallest areas. They are men, few in number, who are poor and inefficient farmers naturally, and who are not able to save enough money to buy a farm. Therefore,

Five Years of Leader Training
Otis B. Read, County Secretary of
Burlington County, N. J.

HE plan of the County Committee in

Ttraining the volunteer leaders of boys

groups in Burlington County has passed through a number of interesting stages of development. During the past five years we have tried out several different schemes of leadership training. Each have had their advantages and disadvantages.

In 1910 the leaders of the Associations in the county met monthly for evening conference. The greater part of the evening was devoted to the discussion of a chapter of "The Boy and the Church," by Foster. Considerable interest was manifested and as the year proceeded it was noticed that the attendance at the monthly conference increased.

In 1911, on account of the men being widely scattered and many of them being busy on the meeting night of the conference, quarterly conferences for the Y. M. C. A. leaders were planned, which met from Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon inclusive. We had a much more elaborate program, and this proved very interesting and helpful to the men who attended, but we found difficulty in getting a large percentage of the men present for the entire conference.

In 1912 a fall and spring conference of all the Association leaders was held for the same length of time, supplemented by a great deal of training through personal interviews throughout the year. This was fairly satisfactory, the numbers was necessarily limited, and we were at the mercy of any bad weather which might come along. It seemed that those who needed the conference most were absent. We were unable to have sufficient time at these conferences for discussion, meeting together only twice during the year.

In 1913 the plan of personal interviews with the men was carried out and this worked fairly satisfactorily. The only difficulty was in our limitations in giving the men sufficient time individually. This plan greatly lacked the encouraging fellow

ship and private conference among the men, which is a great factor in the group conference.

After trying out the above plans we all came back to the monthly conference, which plan we found the most satisfactory. It combined the help of the delightful associations of other men and the privilege of securing the very best men obtainable in leading the discussions. Furthermore, we were able to enlarge our scope of training to take in all male workers with boys in Sunday Schools, Boy Scouts, Boys' Brigades and the Young Men's Christian Associations. The meetings are held on the third Saturday of every month, beginning at 4 o'clock. The afternoon session is given over to the presentation by different leaders of the following topics: 1. Games for Boys; 2. How the Church, Boy Scouts, Young Men's Christian Association and Young People's Society is Trying to Reach the Boys; 3. The Organized Bible Class; 4. Temptations of Boys in Small Towns; 5. Problems of Organized Boys' Groups; 6. The Personal Life of the Leader; 7. Problems of the Sunday School.

We have sought to use eight or ten men at the afternoon session. In this way we have interested a much larger number of men who were working with boys than could have been done in any other plan of which we know. The leaders always take supper together, sometimes it was prepared outside and brought in and passed around, consisting of sandwiches, cocoa, fruit and nuts. The evening session is given entirely to the chairman of our county committee, who is giving a course of lectures on "The Boy," followed by plenty of discussion. The idea being to teach each of the men the principles of boy leadership and helping them to understand the boy himself. Some of the topics which have been presented by our chairman in this course this year are the following: 1. Some Failures in Dealing With Boys; 2. Boy Psychology; 3. The Strength and Weakof Organizations Working With Boys; 4. Play Life of Boys; 5. Sex Hy

ness